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As I was with a group of 20 somethings in Florence this summer, we were having a nice chat around a restaurant table. Being 34, my first time to Europe was when I was 21….way before iphones and the travel sites, online maps, etc. (Well some of them might have been there but we just didn’t use them). Laughing, as I started to tell the story, I recalled how when I first went to Italy to live with a family I needed to use phone cards. I had to memorize the phrase for asking for a phone card, buy it, and then find the nearest payphone and enter the numbers. I sounded like a dinosaur telling that story. But that was how it was done.

I love the internet. I love my phone and I love technology. But I cherish the times I traveled without them. I remember the time a friend and I arrived in Glasgow one cold rainy night (probably like most nights there). We had to find the hotel so we got out our cumbersome map and started looking. A group of Scots came up to ask and asked if they could help. (At first we had to have them repeat the question like 3 times because we were so shocked at the accent that we couldn’t understand them.) They ended up helping us and they made us feel really welcome in Scotland. Today I still talk about how friendly the Scots are.

Not having access to the internet helped us to really plan and to be prepared (as much as possible). And most of all, we communicated in a variety of ways… and we were able to get lost, and in the way of getting lost, we discovered so many things. Surprisingly enough, we survived…and had an amazing time doing it.